A Cultural Kiss
by MizzyPlatinum
Summary: AU in which Natsu asks Lucy to help him prove to Gray and Loke that he knows exactly what an 'Eskimo Kiss' is. NaLu. OneShot. Fluff.


_**Disclaimer: Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima.**_

 **Just a quick oneshot to distract me from homework ^_^**

 **Hope you all like it!**

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 **XOXOX**

It was a normal after school evening and everyone was busy doing homework at the local coffee shop, Fairy Tail. Well _almost everyone._ Natsu was a bundle of raw nerves thanks to his starving hunger as ungraciously awaited for his fire chicken to come out, shaking his leg and drumming his finger against the table in a rather annoying manner.

"Stop tapping!" Loke grumbled with irritation saturating his normally-suave voice.

"But I'm borreddd and hunngrryy," Natsu groaned, throwing his head back in aggravation. It felt like a million years had passed since he had ordered his food.

"If you're bored," Loke said, clenching his pencil as he peered up at Natsu from across the table, "then you might as well do your homework."

"No way," Natsu said, waving his hand carelessly in the air. "That's what Lucy's for!"

Loke sweat-dropped. "I don't think—"

"She isn't here, is she?!" Gray wheezed as he ran over to the boys in a frosty blur, before ducking under the table.

Natsu and Loke looked at one another, sharing a puzzled look. "She who?"

" _Juvia_!" Gray hissed, popping his head up from the space between the seat and the table, reminding Natsu a bit like a snake slithering out of its hole.

Loke did a quick scope of the area. "Nope. Don't see that bodacious blue haired beauty."

" _Thank God_ ," Gray breathed in relief, clambering off the floor to go sit next to Loke on the bench. "She's gone nuts."

"What happened?" Natsu asked, dully sinking his head against the table as he felt his stomach give a low rumble. Where the hell was his food? It had to be over an hour by now, right?

"She keeps sayin' we _Eskimo kissed_." Gray shuddered, his pale face dusting red like a chili pepper—Natsu's stomach growled even louder, feeling his mouth start to salivate. He could almost taste the spicy pepper that came on the side with his chicken as he began to zone out.

"Did you?" Loke asked, completely abandoning his homework as he awaited Gray's answer.

"Of course not!" Gray flushed even brighter. "I mean—we did I guess—but it wasn't intentional! I just wish she would quit callin' it a kiss! It's givin' people the wrong idea!"

"Whoa-what?!" Natsu suddenly came back to reality, wiping the drool from the corner of his mouth. "You and Juvia kissed?!" He never expected Gray to ever kiss someone because honestly, who would wanna kiss that bastard?

"They _Eskimo kissed_ ," Loke said, giving Natsu a soft smile as he watched the boy's pink brows starting to knit together. "What's the matter, Natsu? Don't tell me you don't know what an _Eskimo kiss_ is."

A fire roasted in Natsu's belly at the dumb accusation. Stupid Loke, mocking him as if he were an idiot. And just as he was about to let Loke have it, Gray's voice cut in like a sharp icicle. "Of course he doesn't!"

"Yeah, that's what I thought," Loke grinned, holding his nose in the air as if he were superior to Natsu. And then Gray and Loke laughed, making Natsu's blood boil with rage.

"Oii! Of course I know what an Eskimo kiss is!" he seethed, clenching his fist at the two boys. "How stupid do you think I am?"

"Do you really want me to answer that?" Gray deadpanned, eyeing Natsu in a way that screamed _you don't want to know_.

"Natsu," Loke said, pushing his glasses up on the slope of his nose, "there's no shame in not knowing what one is."

"I told you I know what it is!"

"Okay, then go tell us what it is," Gray challenged, leaning back on bench with his arms tossed lazily behind back.

"Alright," Natsu nodded, rubbing his palms together, feeling fired up to prove them wrong. "It's when two people do that thing where they, ya know, and yeah." He rubbed the tip of his nose as he grinned smugly, looking rather proud of himself. Then he placed his hands on his hips and sneered, "Told ya I knew what it was!"

Loke and Gray both shared a momentary silence, stunned by the words that left the boy's mouth.

"THAT'S NOT IT!"

"I KNEW HE HAD NO IDEA WHAT IT WAS!"

"What are you talkin' 'bout!" Natsu said, his lips curling back as he snarled. "That's exactly it!"

"You didn't give any details!" Gray exclaimed, tossing his hand out in an expressive manner.

"Oi, I ain't the best with words!" Natsu flushed, shoving his head in Gray's face as he leaned over the table. "That's _Lucy's_ specialty!"

"Yeah, yeah," Gray smirked, smashing his forehead against Natsu's. "Use that as your excuse while we all know that you're just an idiot."

"You wanna go, Ice Freak?!"

"Easy there, Natsu," Loke said, pushing the heated boy away from Gray. "How about you just _show us_."

"Heh?" Natsu blinked dumbly. The hell was Loke getting at?

"Go give someone an Eskimo kiss."

"Yeah," Gray smirked, licking his lips in a devious style that made a vein pop on Natsu's forehead. "Go show us."

Go show them? Natsu's eyes bugged out of their sockets as he cried, "The hell kinda perverts are you guys?!"

"I'M NOT A PERVERT!" Gray bellowed—all while tossing his shirt onto the wooden floor.

"And yet," Natsu smirked, "your words contradict your actions…"

"OI!"

"I'm only a pervert with women." Loke grinned with a sly shrug. "So go on. Go give someone an Eskimo kiss."

"Grrr, fine," Natsu spat, giving in to their demands because he wasn't one to ever turn down a challenge. But who exactly was he supposed to Eskimo kiss with, he wondered as eyes landed on a scholarly blonde, making his heart jolt just a tiny bit.

 **XOXOX**

Lucy scribbled frivolously on her homework, trying to get through her mountain of work in record timing because she really wasn't in the mood to stay up all night working on it like she had the night before. Besides, she needed time to help Natsu, since he usually ends up asking her for help with his—though she always suspected he knew what he was doing since he always aced his exams.

And despite Lucy's constant protests, she always found herself unable to _not_ help him. Maybe it was the way he said her name or the cute pout he would give her or maybe it was his campfire scent—her heart clenched. She sighed, shaking her head. She really needed to concentrate and finish this.

"Say, Lu-chan," Levy said, making the blonde crack the tip of her pencil. "Did you figure out question number 6 on page—"

"Yoo, Lucy!" Natsu's warm voice called from behind, interrupting Levy's question.

"Here's what I did so far," Lucy said quickly to Levy, shoving the girl her notebook as she whirled around to see her pink haired friend grinning at her and she found herself grinning right back. "Hey, Natsu!"

"Thanks, Lu-chan!" Levy beamed, her studious eyes searching through the notebook within an instant.

"Come over here." Natsu beckoned, suddenly looking oddly serious with his arms crossed.

"O-Okay," she said, cautiously getting up. It wasn't everyday Natsu looked so somber. "What's up?"

"I need to give you an Eskimo kiss," he said blatantly without any look of emotion besides impatience.

Lucy blinked in stupor. "You need to what?"

"I need to give you an Eskimo kiss," he repeated, tapping his foot in a way that made Lucy's eye twitch—but then his words sunk in like a rock thrown in water.

"WHAT? WHY?!"

"Because Gray and Loke want me to prove that I know what it is."

"No way!" she yelped, her face blazing up like one of Natsu's tiki torches that he used for his fire tricks.

"C'monnn," he moaned, grabbing her small hands in his warm, rough palms as he looked at her with such yearning in his black eyes.

She gulped, feeling her heart start to pick up its pace. "W-Well _do you_ know what it is?"

"Of course I do!" he snapped, looking more annoyed than hurt. "Pleasee, Lucyyy! I gotta prove those assholes wrong!"

Her eyes shifted over to see Gray and Loke staring at them with sly grins on their faces. She blanched, looking back at Natsu. "W-Why does it have to be me?!"

He leaned his face closer to hers, brushing his warm breath against her right ear as he hushed, "Because there's no one else I'd rather do this with."

And a simple sentence like that made Lucy fall even harder for her friend as much as she tried to deny it. She could feel her brain starting to fry with the electric volts that tingled from her ear, straight to her brain, somehow making her heart stutter like crazy.

He was just too close and his fiery scent was too overpowering, turning Lucy into a molten mess—not that she would ever admit this to anyone. Her resolve was starting to crack. Well it was only an Eskimo kiss, right? All she had to do was bump noses with the boy, she glanced at his nose—cute and perfect—making her stomach do a quick somersault.

She coughed. "Umm I-I guess its innocent enough."

"So I can do it?" His face started to glow with excitement.

"I'm going to regret this," she muttered more to herself, rubbing her forehead. "Yes, go ahead!"

"Alright!"

"J-Just make it quick!" she said, her face igniting an even darker shade of red. "This is embarrassing!" She groaned, knowing everyone was watching her. She snapped her eyes closed because if she couldn't see them, then that means that they couldn't see her, right? She faltered a bit at her stupid thought process, knowing very well that, that was far from the case.

Natsu chuckled, releasing only her left hand to cup her chin. He lifted her head up ever-so-slightly. Her stomach fluttered with nervous anticipation. Maybe shutting her eyes was a very bad idea. She felt like she were on a rollercoaster—slowly creaking up to the top, unsure whether to open her eyes or let the drop surprise her.

She gasped, feeling Natsu's soft fringes caress her sweaty forehead and his heated breath tickling her nose, causing it to scrunch slightly. "Relax," he said, low enough for her ears only as he rubbed a soothing circle on the back of her hand with his thumb.

And that was when she realized that her teeth were grinding together and her hand that was still in Natsu's was squeezing him like a boa constrictor. She did her best to relax—but honestly, there wasn't much she could do, and she felt like a mess. But why? All because of a stupid nose rub? How pathetic was she.

Her body hummed with anxiety when suddenly his nose bumped Lucy's. And then it bumped again, tingles shot through her body and she couldn't hold back her gasp—and Natsu's lips were on hers, locking them together like interlocking chains as he released her hand and grasped a hold of her blonde hair, tugging at it in an oddly exciting way.

She found her own hands working their way up to hold onto his face, pulling his mouth harder against hers and felt his tongue seeking entrance and she allowed it, feeling her body burn up like a rising phoenix.

It was like nothing else mattered in the world as this strange inferno circled around them, heating up their movements like their lives depended on it—like it depended on that spark that sizzled between them pulling them even closer like magnets.

And somehow, Natsu managed to pull back, panting as heavily as Lucy. He was looking at her with a mix of surprise and something else that seemed to make her heart pulse.

Her first kiss ever, she faintly touched her lips. She never expected it to be like that—so hot, so frantic—and with _Natsu._ She kissed— _no made out with Natsu_. Her heart wanted to sing she was so happy. So happy until she remembered exactly why he kissed her—just to prove Gray and Loke wrong.

Oh right…

"I-I thought you said you knew what an Eskimo kiss was!" she yelled, pointing an accusing finger at the boy.

"Huh?"

"THAT WAS A _FRENCH KISS,_ YOU DUMMY!"

*Slap*

"OoOF!"

And Lucy, feeling all flustered and a bit hurt, gathered up her books, tossing them messily into her schoolbag before storming out of the coffee shop and Natsu chased after her, but she made sure to take a different route home.

 **XOXOX**

"That was even better than I imagined," Gray said after he and Loke sobered up from laughing. "Shoulda known that idiot would confuse an Eskimo kiss with a French kiss."

"I'm jealous," Loke furrowed, crossing his arms over his chest. "I should have thought to try that on Lucy."

"Oi, oi," Gray choked. "It wouldn't have worked if you tried it! Lucy wouldn't believe you would confuse it with a French kiss. Natsu's just stupid."

"Hmm," Lisanna hummed in thought, appearing so suddenly that she made both boys jump as she took a seat where Natsu had once been sitting. "That's odd."

"What is?" Gray asked with a head tilt.

"That Natsu messed up the Eskimo kiss. I mean when we were younger, I used to make Natsu do it with me all the time when we used to play house—you know, because I wasn't going to _actually_ kiss him. And besides, it was so cute to see him get all annoyed over it—especially every time I called it a kiss! And coincidentally, I tried to make Natsu do it with me the other day as a joke for old times' sake and he got all angry and refused! It was just too cute!"

And Loke and Gray shared a look of pure astonishment, both slowly trying to process what had just come out of their friend's mouth. Because if Natsu knew what an Eskimo kiss was then that would mean…

"SO THAT MEANS—!"

"HE ACTUALLY—!"

"— _KISSED LUCY ON PURPOSE_?!" they both bellowed at once.

"WHAT DID YOU JUST SAYY?!" a scream pierced through the air and there stood Lucy, whose face was the same shade of a tomato with her jaw smacking the floor.

"L-Lucy!" Gray stammered, nearly falling out of his seat. "What are you doing back here?!"

"L-Levy told me I left my notebook with her!" the girl gushed, her face burning darker by the second, looking absolutely frightful with her brown eyes as wide as the moon.

"S-Sorry, Lu-chan," Levy said with a bit of wince as she held on tightly to Lucy's notebook.

"Gahh," Gray rubbed the back of his neck, "what bad timing to come in."

"Damn," Loke muttered, snapping his fingers, "Natsu isn't dumb at all. _He's a genius!_ "

"Right?!" Gray exclaimed in surprising agreement.

"You guys really have no faith in Natsu, do you?" Lisanna laughed, shaking her head. Then she glanced up at Lucy and winked. "Looks like Natsu wanted to kiss you, Lucy. How cute!"

"S-Stop!" Lucy said, placing a hand over her pounding heart. There was no way Natsu _actually_ wanted to kiss her. It was all a mistake. Natsu just simply screwed up his kisses.

"Well it wouldn't be the first time," Gray said, looking thoughtful as he pursed his lips.

"What do you mean?!" Lucy asked quickly, feeling her stomach start to churn.

"Well remember when we were all watching Asuka and she commanded Natsu to kiss you?"

"And he didn't even hesitate. Too bad you picked up his cat at the last second. At least you let him kiss you this time! You looked like you really enjoyed it!" Mira chimed in, holding a plate of Natsu's fire chicken. She frowned. "Such a shame Natsu had left without eating. I know he was really hungry too…"

"So Natsu likes Lucy," Lisanna giggled and Mira joined in while the boys made dumb, nonsensical jokes.

Meanwhile, Lucy could feel her heart stop. This was just too much for her to process. Natsu _chose_ to kiss her, not just to prove a point…

She touched a hand over her heart.

 _Maybe he does like me after all…_

 **The End~**

 **XOXOX**

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 **I'm debating a part two. Would anyone be interested?**

 **Thank you for reading!**

 **Enjoy your weekend!**


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